The title of the film was originally intended to be Licence Revoked. However in America this is a commonly used phrase to describe the withdrawal of a driver's licence so the title was scrapped and replaced with Licence to Kill. This may have been a contributing factor to the film's failure as the majority of the promotional material created for the film could no longer be used as it had featured the Licence Revoked title.

The theme song for Licence to Kill was performed by "Empress of Soul" Gladys Knight. The longest of all the Bond themes, Licence to Kill was based on the "horn line" from Goldfinger and, as such, royalties had to paid to the original writers of that song.

The score for the film was composed by Michael Kamen, known for scoring several action films of the 1980s, such as Lethal Weapon and Die Hard. Glen said that he picked Kamen because he could give "the closest thing to John Barry."

Licence to Kill is possibly the most divisive of all the James Bond movies. Supporters of the movie point to the strengths in the performances of Timothy Dalton and Robert Davi, the return of David Hedison as Felix Leiter, and the fact that the producers tried to do something different with Bond. Others, however, see this as detrimental, complaining that Licence to Kill "just doesn't feel like a Bond movie."